Guestpost: Macrobiotic Cooking–the Next Dimension by Jessica Porter

Yes, you read it correctly — the very hip chick herself has graced A Grain A Day with a guest post! Thank you Jessica — we hope to have you again sometime soon! In case you have been living under a macrobiotic rock, Jessica Porter wrote “The Hip Chick’s Guide to Macrobiotics: A Philosophy for Achieiving a Radiant Mind and a Fabulous Body” back in 2004, and she single-handedly convinced me (and cooljuice) to go “whole hog.” Her humor, ability to be real, and intelligent explanations are all you need to get [and keep] you going… Please check out her website here (where she also maintains a hilarious and helpful blog), her book here, and her online macrobiotic cooking classes here. So with no further ado - take it away Jessica!

I teach a class called “Twelve Ways to Cook a Carrot”. Seriously. Sounds dumb, but it’s actually one of the most eye-opening classes I’ve ever taught. Although that shouldn’t surprise me; I attended a version of the same class taught by Wendy Esko (one of my macro heroines) at the Kushi Institute about 15 years ago and I never, ever forgot it.

Did you realize you can:

grate, juice, steam, water saute, oil saute, blanche, press, cook nishime-style, cook nabe-style, bake, pressure cook and…pickle

a poor little carrot and they ALL taste distinctly different? It blew my mind. At the end of the class, when we tasted all these “carrots”, I found that some cooking styles brought the flavors to the surface, and others drove them deep inside. Some dried the carrot, while others seemed to make it juicier. Baking seemed to make the carrot sweeter, and yet pressure-cooking left it almost metallic-tasting. Hell, I grew up just seeing frozen stuff thrown in the microwave–there wasn’t much subtlety in that!

But my microwave days are (thankfully) over and now it drives me absolutely bonkers when I hear that someone eats vegetables only in salads–I mean, that’s like spending $1,500 to fly to New York City and RIDING THE SUBWAY ALL DAY!! Or… WEARING ONE DRESS EVERY DAY YOUR WHOLE LIFE!! Or (I’m having fun with these…) JUST HAVING ONE FREAKING FRIEND!

Simply. Not. Okay.

You see, the vegetable kingdom (which I think of more as a Queendom) is so unbelievably rich and varied that we need to apply some creative cooking to really appreciate the facets of her jewel collection. If not, we are experiencing nature in only one measly dimension. Nor is rigidity okay for our bodies; our internal organs have a variety of different, amazing functions and we need all sorts of energies, colors and tastes to keep them stimulated and happy. For example, your kidneys like soupy warmth and a little saltiness, while your liver loves fresh, green upward things. Your pancreas has a gentle, soothing sweet-tooth, but your lungs crave hot wasabi. Go figure!

The macro rule of thumb is to get a variety of different energies from different cooking styles every day, and we separate cooking styles into two broad categories: Long-cooking and quick-cooking. Easy peasy, right?

And this simplifies it even more: Long-cooked vegetable dishes usually incorporate round and root vegetables (onions, cabbage, squash, carrots, burdock, daikon, turnip, parsnip etc.) while quick-cooked vegetables dishes incorporate the upward, greener veggies (bok choy, collards, kale, celery, lettuce, Nappa cabbage, green and red cabbage, leeks, etc.) Although… that’s not a hard and fast rule; a carrot will show up in a salad, and a leek might find itself in long-saute.

The longer-cooked dishes are considered more warming, contracting and centering. They deliver even, steady energy that lasts a while. The quicker-cooked dishes are considered more relaxing, cooling and freeing. Their energy rises and disperses more quickly, but keeps us refreshed, social and in good spirits. Although it’s easy to assume that we split them half and half, it’s actually best to get more of the lighter, quick-cooked vegetable dishes–in terms of volume. About two thirds quick-cooked vs. one third long-cooked. Why? Because we are generally more contracted than expanded already (if we weren’t we would explode!), plus this crazy world is contracting us and creating even more pressure inside our bodies with all our emails and voicemails and national economies collapsing. In order to balance that intensity, we need more lighter, short-cooked vegetable dishes.

Here’s an example of a quick-cooked veggie dish and a few little videos on how to massage a pressed salad:

Pressed Salad

• 2 cups Chinese cabbage, shredded
• 1/2 cup red onion, sliced in thin rings
• 1/4 cup celery, sliced thin
• 1/4 cup red radish, sliced thin
• 1/4 cup apple, sliced thin
• 1/2 cup cucumbers, peel if waxed and slice in thin half rounds
• 1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
• 2 teaspoons Organic Brown Rice Vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon Mirin

Place all vegetables, apples and sea salt in a mixing bowl and gently knead with your hands to mix. Place in a Japanese pickle press, available in many health food stores and press for 1 hour. If a pickle press is not available, mound the salted vegetables in the center of the mixing bowl, place a plate upside down on top of the vegetables and set a large glass jar (1/2 to 1 gallon) filled with water on top of the plate to apply pressure. Press for 1 hour. With your hands squeeze out liquid from the vegetables. Taste, if the vegetables taste salty rinse under cold water and squeeze again to remove the salty taste. Place in a serving dish, add the vinegar and mirin. Toss to thoroughly mix before serving.

And here’s a long-cooked: Plus a silly vid demonstrating it:

Kinpira

• 1-2 tablespoons sesame oil, or olive oil
• 1 medium burdock root, cut into fine matchsticks
• 2 medium carrots, cut into fine matchsticks
• 1 pinch sea salt
• 2 tablespoons spring water
• shoyu
• ginger juice

Heat the oil in a heavy skillet that has a lid. Saute burdock, first, stirring constantly for about 3 minutes. Add the carrots and salt, stirring for another 3 minutes. Sprinkle the water over the vegetables, cover, and reduce to low, allowing vegetables to steam. After 10-15 minutes, open and check to see that the dish is relatively dry. Add a p Add a sprinkle of shoyu. Cover and cook 5 more minutes. Add a few drops of ginger juice. Serve while hot.

So start having fun in the kitchen, feeling your way through all the energies that cooking provides… and next time you chomp on a carrot, have a little respect!

Chew well,
Jessica Porter